Rise of the Claymores
by Angelo Inferno
Summary: Crossover between one of my own fictionpress stories and the Claymore anime series. When Isley encounters a strange young man with enough power to destroy even the Abyssal Ones, Clare and Raki are pulled into another fight against the Organization.
1. Chapter 1

A/N I do not own any of the claymore characters or locations. Angelo, Raven, and the city of Alastair are my own creations from the Inferno Trilogy. If you have trouble understanding Angelo or Raven's characters just read the Angelo Trilogy on Fictionpress.

This story takes place after the battle in the north and is based off of the anime, not the manga. I got the impression that in the anime, Isley was more powerful than either Priscilla or Claire, so that's how his character will be written. Enjoy

"speech"  
'thoughts'  
-

"I apologize that it took this long, to find you. I'm proud of you for staying safe, that couldn't have been easy. I have no intention of returning to work for the Organization, just know, the journey will be more difficult than before. So, will you join me?" Claire asked the young boy standing before her, the boy who followed her all across the land, just to be with her. She found it hard to believe that someone would be willing to stay with her, but her mind was drawn back to Jeans last words, before she died returning Claire to her human form.

The boy in front of her smiled, glad that she was allowing him to continue travelling with her. "Claire, of course." He chuckled to himself, glad that they would continue travelling together, and glad that she survived without killing anyone else after that intense battle. Overwhelmed with emotion, his eyes start to water and he rushes towards Claire to embrace her. "I- I never want to leave you."

Surprised, Claire feels as if a dark cloud has lifted from her mind and she smiles at the boy embracing her. "Thank you, Raki."

As they begin travelling down the mountain, Claire looks back towards Jean's grave, her sword impaled in the ground with her armor placed before the blade, in the traditional "Claymore" manner. 'Teresa, I'm still alive. I can almost hear you say "that's the way it should be."' Claire is shocked from her thoughts when she sees an image of Teresa appear, smiling at her from above Jean's grave. Returning the smile, she returns to Raki's side as they continue on their way down the mountain, and she remembers something Teresa told her a long time ago 'Live as a human, grow as a human, die a human death. This is the greatest gift that I can possibly give to you, so use it well. Farewell, Claire.'

Meanwhile, two figures are travelling south. One of them, with the appearance of a young girl, is fast asleep carried by her companion. The other, a man with silver hair, keeps his gaze forward, his face a sea of tranquility. His thoughts however, are drawn elsewhere. He didn't expect to lose Rigaldo, nor did he expect Priscilla to be defeated by anyone other than himself. The claymore that fought her had intrigued him, he was able to tell that she was only 1/4th yoma from when he watched them fight, though he couldn't figure out how that had been enough to allow her to defeat Priscilla. 'It seemed as if she knew Priscilla from before, from what she was saying it seemed as if she knew of Priscilla killing Teresa of the Faint Smile. Teresa was condemned to death for killing a group of bandits, though she wouldn't have done so without a reason, and witnesses reported seeing a girl travelling with her. This claymore must be the girl who was travelling with Teresa; she must have had Teresa s flesh and blood implanted within her as a means to get revenge upon Priscilla. That would partially explain how strong she was, but only being 1/4th yoma, she should only have had half of Teresa s power, even awakened that wouldn't be enough to defeat Priscilla. What could have allowed her to become this strong?'

Shifting his attention back to his surroundings, he is shocked to notice a young man with black hair walking next to him. Spinning around, he shifts into his awakened state, holding Priscilla safely behind him and turning to face the stranger. "Who are you, how did you sneak up on me?" 'My senses are perfect, there's no way anyone should be able to sneak up on me, even distracted. How did he do that?'

Completely unaffected by the man's sudden transformation, the stranger turns towards the newly formed monster, his blue gaze steady on the large creature before him. "I was wondering when you were going to notice me. I was hoping to get some directions since I'm new to this area, do you think you could help me?"

Setting Priscilla down beside him, Isley shifted one of his massive arms into a large broadsword, knowing that anyone who could sneak up on him and knew who and where he was could easily interfere with his plans. Though he could feel no yoki aura from this young man, his bright blue eyes had such a strong feel that he knew that the man had a large amount of power, though without being able to feel any aura from him it was impossible to tell how strong he was. Lunging forward with such speed that even awakened beings would have trouble seeing, he swung his blade towards the stranger, intent upon finishing him as quickly as he could. His blade swung down towards the man, causing a large cloud of dust upon hitting the ground. As the dust settled, Isley was surprised to find the place where his sword had impacted to be an empty crater, with no trace of the man who had been standing there before. "I'm looking for a group; apparently they don't have a name though I've heard they're called the "Organization" or something like that. Any idea as to where I can find them?" Spinning his massive head around so quickly he nearly snapped his own neck, Isley saw the man sitting on his left shoulder, the massive Abyssal One still unable to figure out how this man could move so silently. He couldn't feel the man's weight, nor could he feel any air currents when he moved, it was impossible. Whirling around, he again tried to slice through the man as he fell from his shoulder through the air, but was blown back when the man swung his arm, causing a powerful flame to fly towards Isley. 'What is this? He is clearly using yoki, though even when he moves and attacks with what is clearly a large amount of power, I can't sense any aura from him.'

Spinning away from the powerful flames, Isley turned back to the young man as he landed gently on the ground, flames still encasing both of his hands. "Alright, I'm getting tired of your violence, my purpose here is to eliminate all traces of those who are a threat to humankind. If you are one of these threats I will have to eliminate you as well."

Shifting his weight foreword, Isley prepared to strike again, when he suddenly felt a faint spark of yoki from the man. Startled, he was nearly overwhelmed when the man began to shift, the color draining from his hair turning it a bright silver and growing large powerful white wings, while his eyes gained an even more hypnotic feel to them, but what surprised him the most was the massive aura that the man was emitting, easily several times more powerful than that of all three abyssal ones. Though the transformation only lasted for a second, Isley was overwhelmed by an emotion that he thought was beyond him, something he hadn't felt since the painful transformation from human to claymore. The feeling was more powerful than he had ever felt before.

Fear

Somehow, this man was even more powerful than the colossal beings that ruled this land. More powerful, perhaps, his entire army, along with Priscilla and himself. He suddenly found himself looking up at the man, after unknowingly returning to his human form from the shock of such a powerful aura. "I'll ask one more time, do you know where I can find this so called Organization?" 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A/N Sorry it's taken a while to update, similarly my fictionpress story remains unfinished as well because of how busy life has been. If any readers have questions about the story or characters not yet answered in fictionpress just pm me and I'll do my best to explain. Again, I do not own Claymore or any of its characters. So without further ado, here is the next chapter of Rise of the Claymores.

After battling Rigaldo and Priscilla, then leaving the organization due to Claire and her friends suspicions as to their actions towards their subordinates, the constant threat of attack from the group they once served began creating a tension around Claire that was nearly tangible in its intensity. This tension was lessened by Raki, the boy who meant so much to her, helping her fall back into their old habits, Raki preparing food for the two of them and helping her set up camp, the way they always did when she was searching for yoma for the detestable organization.

Now, however, these threats seemed less substantial as the two journeyed back to where Claire had trained with Irene and learned the quicksword technique. Now that the two of them were fugitives from the organization, it was decided that both Claire and Raki should train, Raki to become stronger in case the two became separated or if Claire couldn't help him in time, and Claire to hide her yoki aura and learn to remain invisible to the organization, and former number 2 warrior would be able to help both of them.

Claire, of course, was shocked and a little worried when she learned of Raki's travels with Isley and Priscilla, though after sparring with him she agreed that Isley was able to teach him quite a bit about swordsmanship in the short time that they traveled together. While Claire knew basic swordsmanship, the warriors of the organization where never taught anything beyond the basics, as a warrior who was too weak to learn through battle would not be worth the effort of being given extra training. As such, she felt it a necessity to improve her own technique and strategy as well. Their sparring matches, therefore, benefited both of them, since Raki could gain strength and experience fighting a stronger opponent while Claire could learn more about his technique and style, despite being taught by an abyssal one. This training was a daily part of their schedule now, until they could find Irene again and learn more about what they would have to deal with as they hid from the organization.

Today, the two companions had opted to rest instead of maintain their regular schedule, the constant training taking an obvious toll on the young human, despite his claims otherwise. The two had set up camp along a river just north of where Irene was staying, Claire recognizing it as being close to the place where she had lost her arm to Ophelia, the memory of the rippling blade creating phantom pains along her body as she remembered the psychotic warrior.

'Even she trusted and believed in me though, entrusting her quest to kill Priscilla to me after I defeated her.' Claire was pulled from her thoughts when she felt the presence of several yoma to the south, their auras feeling chaotic and brutal as they did when on the hunt, Claire realizing that they could have found Irene, since it seemed unlikely that any humans would be found this deep into the forest. "Raki, I can sense several yoma to the south, probably hunting Irene, I'm going to go help her. I want you to wai-"

"No Claire, I'm coming with you this time!" Raki shouted back to her. "I remember this forest, this is where we were separated last time when Ophelia followed us. I told you before, though, that I never want to leave you. I'm going with you."

Surprised by the determination in his voice, Claire simply nodded, then motioned for him to climb onto her back. "If you insist on coming with me, then I'll have to make suer you can keep up" she said at his confused expression. "We should hurry, though. I can tell that they're getting close to where Irene had trained me." Climbing onto her back, Claire supress the strange feeling that fluttered in her chest at his touch. Shaking it off without a second thought, Claire sped through the trees, fast enough that even an unblinking eye couldn't track her movements.

As they approached the yoma, Claire realized that they were not approaching the area Irene lived at, though they were clearly close to surrounding their prey. Detecting a faint wisp of yoki aura from the direction of Irena's hideout, Claire knew that Irena was safe. Letting out a relieved sigh that escaped the notice of her panicked passenger, she turned her attention back to the large group of yoma. "I can sense the auras of at least 25 yoma, we should reach them shortly. Are you sure you want to accompany me, Raki?"

Turning to look at him, she was again surprised by the determination in his face, especially since he had been freaking out over the speed at which they were traveling just moments earlier. "Of course, I'm never leaving you again, no matter what." "Alright, they should be just through this next clearing, prepare yourself"

As they burst through the trees to a dead standstill, Raki almost tumbling forward after their sudden stop, Claire finally got a good look at the group. In the middle of the group was a young woman, around 20 years old with black hair with a bluish shine to it, along with bright green eyes and a surprised expression. Surrounding her was a group of yoma, 27 in all and mostly winged, each staring at her as if they had been starved for a decade then placed in front of the finest gourmet meal anyone has ever seen. The yoma were, in fact, so focused on their meal that they didn't even notice the two intruders as they entered the clearing at superhuman speeds.

Looking right at the two of them, the woman slowly shifted into a low stance an a calm, yet slightly arrogant smirk. Turning away, she made a beckoning motion towards the yoma and, as if she had rung the dinner bell herself, they pounced.

Watching from the edge of the clearing, Claire can see each yoma moving in towards the girl, all 27 rushing in all at once and, before she knew what she was doing, she ran, intent upon preventing yet another victim of the horrendous monsters who were, no matter how indirectly, responsible for taking almost everything she held dear to her heart. 'I'm not going to make it.' she thought as she saw the first yoma closing in. Soon, all that could be seen was a mass of yoma bodies all struggling to find their way to the center, where their prey resided. Still rushing forwards, Clair had missed it when the womans calm smile shifted into an almost crazed grin, full of malevolence towards the creatures that dared to think themselves worthy of touching her.

A/N In the next chapter, I will be using first person perspective for the battle against the yoma. I will try to show when I switch from third to first and back again (mostly during fight scenes), though I apologize if I end up missing one and end up confusing anyone.


	3. Chapter 3, Of Psions and Angels

Chapter 3, of psions and angels

A/N This will be my first full fight scene, hopefully it will turn out all right, if anyone thinks they should be in third person rather than first or any other advice I would greatly appreciate it. As usual, I own nothing of the Claymore franchise, including but not limited to the story, characters, or settings, among other things.

**Raven's P.O.V.**

'Ha, I finally get a chance to show off a little. I look forward to this.' I thought as a maniacal grin spread across my face. Watching the multiple yoma closing in, I almost laughed at how easy it would be, they were even beyond slow motion! 'Well, I'll just have to teach them that they aren't worthy of trying to touch me.' Feeling the first of the group close in, my surroundings blurred, then completely blocked by the onslaught of yoma, 'how many was it? 20, 30? It doesn't really matter either way, they will soon come to an end.' I lazily surrounded myself with my energy, feeling it ward off the first yoma's dull fangs with barely any effort. As the last of them closed in, I began charging the psionic energy within my arms, not too much since I wanted to at least make a show and leave a good impression on the people here. Feeling said person rush towards the yoma surrounding me, I quickly pieced together my second favorite attack. 'Alright, about time for a' "CONFLAGRATION!" I yelled out the last part, feeling the familiar sensation of psionic energy flowing through my arms to explode outward in a controlled burst between my own body and the yoma surrounding me.

As the yoma flew back, I gave myself a pat on the back for my self control, all of the yoma were still standing and I could have some more fun. "Alright, time for some fun." I said, as I charged my arms with psionic energy again, slightly differently this time though. When the first yoma got up from my blast, he quickly found himself with several broken bones, along with a crushed torso, skull, arms, legs... OK, I pretty much crushed him like an egg with my psionic wave attack. Spinning the tangible energy around my hands, I prepared to strike another yoma, smashing its head clean off of its body when it got within range.

My perverse wack-a-mole(yoma?) continued until the group was reduced to only 10, at which point the remaining yoma, having finally recovered from my initial shock wave, began to take to the sky, doing their best to avoid my psionic clubs of doom. "Time to play seriously now? I guess this won't last too much longer, will it?" I asked no one in particular as I joyously began charging my favorite attack. Sensing my change in tactics and noticing my lack of any visible weapon, the remaining yoma all rushed in at once, intent upon finally turning me into dinner.

They were too slow.

Just as they were about to reach me, I unleashed a thin, almost unseen line of energy. Very weak, but very concentrated, and VERY fast. So fast, in fact, that before anyone else could even think of blinking, every single yoma simply fell from the air, my blade hurricane turning their bodies into pieces smaller than fine sand, their blood soaking my clothes and the ground around me as they fell from the sky. 'Too easy.' I thought, the maniacal smirk shifting back to my normal calm smile.

Turning back to my audience, the smile never leaves my face as I see their expressions of shock, mixed with fear and even a little hatred. 'Well, we've only just met, I'll probably have to explain everything once I stop her from attacking me.' I thought to myself as I watch the woman slide into a low fighting stance, sword drawn and aimed right at my heart. 'I just wish it was quicker to help people realize that we are not the bad guys.' I thought as she charged at me.

**Normal P.O.V.**

Claire and Raki had both witnessed what could possibly have been the most impressive display of power they had ever seen. It wasn't the number of yoma that the mysterious woman killed, it wasn't how quickly it had been done, nor was it that she had accomplished this without any weapons. All of these could be done by most of the stronger warriors of the organization. No, it was her attacks, their speed and precision, and mostly, how the only time she released any yoki aura was when she unleashed her first strike, the massive fireball that blasted away all of the yoma, along with her audience.

One word was going through Claire's mind now, 'Awakened Being' she thought. What else could take the form of a normal human, yet be powerful enough to destroy multiple yoma unarmed or even use yoki? Obviously it had learned a way to hid its yoki aura, even when using it to attack. 'That last strike was extremely powerful, I don't think I would have any chance of surviving it, but I can't let something like this roam free. Even if I'm no longer working for the organization, no, EXPECIALLY since I'm not working for them anymore, I have to make sure that nobody can be harmed by this thing.' she told herself, preparing for what might be her last battle as she shifted into her fighting stance and charged at the woman before her.

Glancing lazily at Claire, the girl quickly brought up her hand, catching the oncoming blade between two fingers with barely any effort. Trying to pull free, Claire found that she couldn't move her claymore from the girl's firm grip, impatience welling inside of her as she said "just die, yoma."

Looking offended, the girl simply gazed back "how can you compare me to these things?" she spat out the last word, clearly showing her distaste. "Don't play dumb, you're an awakened being, aren't you?" "An awakened being? I take it these are different than the yoma I just killed?" "You should know, being one yourself." Using her two fingers around the claymore, the girl gently pushed Claire back across the clearing, over 30 feet away, to give them room to talk peacefully. "I take it from how your energy is so chaotic and torrential, an awakened being is made when one of your kind can no longer hold back the foreign power implanted within your body, as if that power were awakening. Trust me, I'm nothing like those things either, though I think I can help you avoid becoming one." "What are you talking about?" "Just ask your friend there" the girl said, motioning to the side of the clearing.

Feeling a familiar yoki aura from the same direction, Claire shifts her vision to the side to be met with a familiar figure, instantly recognizing the cloaked form of Irene. "Hello Claire, it's been quite a while, hasn't it?" "Irene, do you know who this is?" "Yes, don't worry, she can be trusted, but we'll get to that later. Have you mastered the technique I taught you?" "I have, It was difficult, yet I managed to master my emotions and the quicksword as well." "Very good, now let's see if you've matched my skill yet." Irene said, throwing off her cloak to reveal both arms, her claymore already drawn. "What? How did you..." "Raven helped me. She used her energy to help me regrow my arms, and she taught me how to use my own energy better." She said as her yoki aura completely vanished, then she herself vanished as well. Shocked, Claire looks around intently, wondering where Irene could have gone. Sensing danger, yet still no yoki aura, she quickly spun forward, turning to find the ground she had been standing on torn to pieces by a quicksword that she had neither heard nor sensed, a smiling Irene standing on the other side of the destroyed patch of earth.

"Very good, you managed to dodge my attack even though I didn't use any yoki at all." Irene said, a hint of pride in her eyes at her former student's abilities. "How could you have done that? It was much more powerful than Flora's windcutter, you had to have used yoki somehow, otherwise you couldn't have performed a technique that fast or powerful." Claire said, eying Irene carefully. Irene simply walked towards one of the trees surrounding the clearing. Stopping just within range of the tree, it suddenly turned to dust, falling into a pile at Irene's feet. "I'm still using the quicksword, yet I'm not using any yoki. I've heard of Flora and her windcutter, it is similar yet requires no yoki to perform." Turning to Raven, she continues, "I am using my energy differently, there is more to our bodies than yoki and muscle. Raven describes it better than me, but yoki is not really the best use of our energy."

Walking up to the group, Raven motions in the direction of Irene's cabin. "Shall we continue our conversation in a more comfortable environment?" A dazed Raki, still trying to figure out what happened from when he was almost thrown across the clearing up to now, said "Wait, what's your name again? Mine is Raki and this is Claire." Looking at the only human in the group, she said "It's Raven, Raven Adair."

Entering Irene's house, Raven and the others sat around a large table, everyone looking towards Raven. "Well, I'm guessing you're about ot ask me a whole bunch of questions about what's going on, I'll skip those and go strait to explaining everything from beginning to end, starting with the energy that I use. No doubt you were surprised by my lack of yoki aura during all but my first attack, conflagration?" Claire nodded, while Raki, not knowing how to sense yoki simply kept listening, and Irene, already knowing what happened, just continued listening. "I used a type of energy that is actually the origin of your yoki aura, it's called psionic energy. Your yoki aura is an energy signature that is given off when you perform an attack or use your enhanced strength or speed, right? It's basically a sign that energy is being used, like the light coming from a fire. The energy is question is the same psionic energy that I used, simply less refined in your artificially enhanced bodies. Because there aren't any natural pathways for the psionic energy to use, there will always be some leaking from your body whenever you use it, whether it be from an attack, some kind of defense, anything. Because psionic energy is controlled by your mind, your emotional control will improve your ability to control your psionic energy, which is why a volatile attack such as the quicksword requires such focus. This is also why you can suppress your yoki aura if you have enough willpower and focus-" "You say that we emit an aura because our bodies were artificially made to handle yoki, when we are implanted with the flesh and blood of a yoma. How is it that you have so much control of this, _psionic_ energy?" Claire interrupted suddenly. "You have a good question. Yoma and the warriors of this land are far from the only creatures that can use yoki and psionic energy. Yoma, also being artificially created by the organization-" "WHAT!" Cried Raki in alarm. "also emit a yoki aura, which is how you are able to find them Claire." she continued as if Raki hadn't spoken. "I was born naturally with this ability, though I had it locked within me until a couple of years ago. And yes, the leader of the organization created the yoma, he's also someone that takes great joy in seeing others in pain, which is probably why he created them and the organization in the first place. There was another group calling themselves the Organization of Shadows from several hundred years ago, though they are almost all gone thanks to me and my friends." She said this part particularly proudly before continuing, "but some remnants still remain, such as the creator of this so called _organization_. No doubt he was upset when he was banished, from what we know about him, not only was he impossible to control, but he also kept growing stronger and stronger at an alarming rate. Without any way to destroy him at the time, he was banished to this island, though this is all I know about him at the time. Learning of this, me and my partner," she gained a particularly soft and gentle expression at this point, "came here to learn more and stop what was going on. After talking to some of the local humans we learned about what he was doing to the people, turning them into 'modified humans'" her calm expression left at this point "and we decided to split up. I would travel around, trying to meet as many claymores as possible and trying to help them get a hold of their power, though I've only met Irene here, then I would meet up with him at the organization's headquarters. After talking to Irene a bit, I was able to find out how your 'yoki aura' worked and how to make the process of using your psionic energy more natural. As you can see from Irene's injuries, or lack thereof," motioning towards Irene's regrown arms, "it worked out pretty well. You'll be able to use as much of your available psionic energy as you want without awakening, and I think you'll find that you'll be significantly stronger than even these 'Abyssal Ones' Irene told me about." Claire then spoke. "That would be great, though I am wondering who your partner is, and what he went to do when you split up. There are some powerful creatures around here, I hope he doesn't encounter anything that would risk him getting hurt, though you're powerful, I don't know if you'd be as strong as an abyssal one, they are titanic in their powers." "Oh don't worry about him, he's even more powerful than I am, and I only used a small fraction of my power, I can even shift into another state, similar to awakening, though not permanent and my mind remains intact, where I become even more powerful still. I'm sure that he'll be able to handle himself."

Said partner was currently traveling across this new land, along with two other partners, a silver haired man and a young girl. Hidden from sight, however, was the power resonating through each of these three beings, three of the most powerful on the island. They were on a journey to the organization's headquarters, the young man with black hair 'convincing' the silver haired man to give up his goal of killing the young traveler in favor of helping him. 'No, I guess he wouldn't even let me get close enough to reach, let alone be able to do any damage, his power was TITANIC." Isley, the silver haired man thought to himself as he watched his two companions talking. Angelo, as he had introduced himself as, initially had trouble communicating with the young girl, Priscilla, due to her mental instability. With a lot of determination, though, not to mention the durability his powers gave him to withstand the girl's violent outbursts, he finally gained the girls trust enough to talk peacefully. Shortly afterwards, they began training together, he had helped her gain better control of her powers and even helped her regain most of her sanity, though once she realized what she had done to so many people, the trauma seemed to slow down their remaining progress, though he still helped. Often isley would find the two talking intently whenever they camped, though always just out of earshot. 'He doesn't trust me.' Isley realized 'Unlike her, I made all of my own decisions, I have no excuse for what I've done, though I'd rather simply avoid his wrath than gain his trust. His power would easily destroy me.' It had taken some getting used to, but Isley was starting to get a little too familiar with that one emotion called fear.

As they trained, Angelo realized, Priscilla never really wanted to hurt her opponent. Even before, she had simply wanted him to stay away from her, the thought of causing another pain, even in her mentally distressed state, was never something she desired, even when killing someone. 'Most likely she had suffered a traumatic experience at a really young age, then being turned into a claymore then passing her limits finally set her off. Still, she is showing progress, and I think that deep down she wants to be a good person, its just these yoma that still haunt her mind, along with her own misdeeds. She'll probably have to end up facing them some day, though I hope she'll be able to make it through this, I think she would be a great friend if she can.' He thought to himself as he was training with her one day. They had been traveling to the organization for several days now, though with their superhuman powers they could probably have made the trip in a couple of hours at most. Still, he opted to go the slow way, both to train with Priscilla, as well as to give Raven enough time to finish her task. Easily dodging Priscilla's downward slash to his stomach, he was surprised when she used her momentum to turn in mid air (as they were both several hundred feet off the ground, mostly to avoid damaging the surrounding area) and launch a strike to his shoulder that he couldn't dodge from where he had set himself up. Suddenly surrounded by a large quantity of blood, the droplets seeming to float around him as he fell back to earth, he carefully considered the progress they had made. 'That was very impressive, I wouldn't be surprised if her skills now exceeded Isley's by a massive amount. Not only that, but our progress towards the organization is also going well. We should make it there in about 5 days, exactly when me and Raven agreed on meeting there.' Landing with barely a sound, he carefully examined his shoulder, the deep wound still soaking his clothing with blood. 'That really was an impressive attack, I'll have to congradulate Priscilla, it's the first time she was able to land a blow, no matter how superficial.' He thought as the gaping hole in his shoulder closed almost instantly. After convincing Priscilla that, no, he was not about to die and praising her for the very impressive progress she had made, they made their way back to their camp, Angelo showing nothing of his distaste for having to trust the self proclaimed 'silver king' to lead them to the organization. 'Still, it's better than letting him run free and hurt other people, though I don't think I'll have any luck trying to convince him of that.' He thought before settling in to sleep for the night. 'Hopefully Raven is having good luck talking to the warriors here.' With that though, he drifted off into his usual unsettling world of dreams.

A/N I'll probably be switching back and forth between first and third person for the remaining fight scenes, a big one, demonstrating Angelo's full power in his human form is just a couple of chapters away. If anyone has any questions about how the energy works or how they stop awakening, I can use these for my next chapter when Claire and Raki are asking Raven more questions about what's going on. Thank you for taking the time to read all three chapters of my story so far. I would also like to thank TrinityKnight93 for his encouraging reviews, helping me to get this story going again. Hope you enjoyed it so far.


	4. Chapter 4, Raki's Birthday Special

**A/N Sorry it's taken so long to update these stories. What with my grandfather's cancer, medical issues with a broken leg and air force medical eligibility, and life's general overwhelming obstacles, I haven't had much time to work on my writing. BUT, now that I have time again, my brain chose this moment to give me massive writers block on this story (thanks a lot brain!), so to get the ideas stirring and to share something else with my readers, I've decided to write this special for Rise of the Claymores. Hopefully it will give you a better idea of how my versions of the characters are going to act in this fic, and though it's mostly for fun (though I guess this whole story is), it will have a small effect on what happens in the rest of the story. If anyone notices any OOC-ness or has concerns on how any of the other characters are acting, just post me a PM and I'll figure out what went wrong. So without further ado, here is Rise of the Claymores: Raki's Birthday special.**

**Warning, this chapter contains complete randomness, writer self insertion and blatant violations of the rules of a sensible storyline due to misuse of the almighty powers of the writer. You have been warned.**

**4 days until Raki's birthday**

Raki was sometimes very self conscious about certain things, most notably anything that drew a lot of attention to himself. So it was understandable that he 'forgot' to mention that in a couple of days, he was going to turn 16 (**A/N I have no idea what age he is in the anime and I'm to lazy to find out right now**). So far, he was planning on doing some more training with Raven, along with Claire, and that would last until his birthday anyway so he didn't really see any point in bringing it up.

He had been thinking about this topic for a while now, as he and Claire were traveling towards Irene's cabin to start training again. "I'm just glad to be back with Claire again, not to mention that I might be able to use energy similar to Claire and the others. If I can, then it'll be my turn to protect Claire this time, I'm done being the helpless little kid. My birthday's nowhere near as important as that." he whispered to himself. "What was that?" Claire said from beside him. "Ahh, nothing, nothing at all really." 'I forgot how powerful a Claymore's senses are.' Claire stopped and looked at him with a thoughtful expression. "You said something about a birthday, is your's coming up soon? Come to think of it, how old are you anyway?" Raki sweat-dropped at that. 'She doesn't even know how old I am? Oh well, I guess I am always the one asking her questions, like what it's like to be a Claymore, I guess I can understand why she might not know that much about me. Still, I'd rather keep ti to myself.' Turning to her, he move behind her a starts to push her down the path again. "Yeah, my birthday's in a few days, I'll tell you all about it when we get to Irene's though." "Alright Raki, we are running a little late after all, we don't want to keep them waiting for long." Relieved at that, he begins walking beside her again. 'God I hope she forgets about this by the time we get there, we are still about a day from getting there after all.'

**3 days left**

"HEY EVERYONE, RAKI'S BIRTHDAY IS COMING IN A FEW DAY'S, HE SAID HE'LL TELL US ALL ABOUT IT!" Clair shouted the instant they were inside the cabin. 'Well, so much for her forgetting about it.' Raki thought to himself as the sound of footsteps were heard from upstairs. 'At least it'll just be Claire, Raven, and Irene.'

Suddenly the front door burst in as a very excited purple girl ran in and tackled Raki in a fierce hug. "WAAAAH, MY BIG BOTHER RAKI'S BIRTHDAY. WHAT SHOULD I GET YOU? WHEN IS IT? HOW OLD WILL YOU BE? WHAT KIND OF CAKE DO YOU WANT? WHAT ABOUT-" She suddenly stopped when she was pulled off of the struggling Raki by an irritated Claire. "He'll tell us when everyone gets here, try not to kill him until then." Priscilla then looked to Raki with a saddened expression. "I'm sorry Raki, I just got a little excited." "That's alright, Priscilla, just be careful next time, and no tackling please."

Another figure, this one being a young man with jet black hair, walked in through the newly demolished doorway. "I'm sorry, she heard what you said from where we were training by the river, I just couldn't keep up with her when she got that excited. I had hoped that the hard work might have calmed her down a little, but I guess not." He said. "Don't worry about it Angelo, every thing's fine now. I wasn't really planning on doing anything for my birthday though." "WHAT?! You HAVE to celebrate your birthday, it's the day you were born after all. I've celebrated every birthday I've had so far, all 956 of them, even if most of them were while I was on my own stuck inside of that infernal machine!" 'Well, that seemed pretty enthusiastic, he must take birthdays pretty seriously then. I guess it'll be more than just the four of us then.' Raki thought.

Irene and Raven came down from the stairway, Raven with a wide, mischievous grin on her face, Irene with a more gentle smile. "Well well well, your birthday huh? This should be exciting." Raven said with a near crazed look in her eyes. "We'll have to celebrate of course, I'll get started planning right away." Irene said, pulling Raven along behind her.

She stopped and turned back to Raki. "Oh yeah, what day is your birthday?" Raki then looked around at all the faces looking at him with everything from happiness to crazed excitement on their faces and realized something about everyone here. "Alright, it's three days from now, I'll be turning 16." Irene's grin widened at this, "We'll get right to work then." She said as her and Raven left to begin preparing.

Smiling to himself, he sat down on one of the chairs in the living room of the cabin as he thought to himself about his new realization. 'Everyone here has gone through so much, we're fighting the Organization, trying to find a mysterious opponent who we know nothing about, trying to train in new ways that basically ends up changing the very fabric of our being. We're all working so hard and, most importantly, we're becoming a family. I guess, if it's for those I care about, Claire and the others, I can put up with a birthday party.'

**Only 2 days now**

"Hey, I heard about Raki's birthday, I thought I'd come by and see how my old student was doing." Came the voice of someone who had just entered the cabin. Everyone in the house recognized the voice and came rushing towards it, weapons drawn towards the invading Abyssal One. "ISLEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" A crazed looking Priscilla said as she started digging her fingernails into Isley's arm. Backing away with his hands up, he responded "Hey, like I said, I heard about Raki's birthday, so I thought I'd stop by and say hi." " How did you even find out about my birthday anyway? I haven't told anyone else." Raki said with a confused look. "The writer of this story used his almighty power as writer to implant himself into the story, he then found me and told me that he was planning on having Raki's birthday be two days from now. That's him, right behind me" he motioned towards the door where a skinny dark haired teenager was standing with worn jeans and a green t-shirt. "Hi, my name's Mike, but you can just call me by my screen name, Angelo." I said. "Hey, that's my name." Said a confused Angelo. "Well yeah, you were my first character in fictionpress, so even though we're nothing alike, I named you after my nickname in high school, Michael Angelo." I said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Riiight, and this guy didn't seem weird to you at all?" Claire asked. "Not really, he included that I would need to trust him since it was required for this part of his story to work." Replied Isley.

Everyone in the room was now looking at the two like they were crazy. "Uuuummm, yeah, I think you should probably go now." Irene said, now almost looking scared at the two, as if fearful that the insanity that had befallen them could be contagious. "Alright, I just wanted to drop this off." Isley said, pulling out a long present wrapped in colorful silver wrapping paper. "See ya later." He said as he turned and left with the dark haired teen. "I thought wrapping paper didn't exist in this world Mike? I thought you said it needed plastic, dyes and, something called 'tape'?" He said as they walked off. "Don't worry, I made an exception with my almighty powers as writer." "Oh, right. While we're at it, can I be made king of this island, you know, since you're already making so many exceptions with your fancy writer powers?" "Ha ha, nice try."

Everyone was standing by the door for at least an hour after that, trying to process what just happened and what kind of insanity had befallen Isley.

**Tomorrow's the day!**

Everyone had finally recovered from the insanity of the previous day, and was working on last minute preparations for the party.

"Damn it, you can only bake a cake the day before the party, since it'll be freshest that way, but now that it's time to start, I realized I don't know how to bake a cake." Raven nearly screamed in frustration as her and Irene were working in the kitchen. "Well I don't know anything about making cakes, what should we do?" Irene responded. "We'll just have to ask everyone else if they know how to bake a cake."

"Sorry, but cakes never really helped me with fighting yoma, so I never had a need to learn." Claire said when they asked her.

"Nope, remember, I was in stasis most of my life and was trapped by the original Organization before that, I never had any cake, even though I always wanted one. We'll need to find something that'll work." Said Angelo after they asked him.

"Cake? No, sorry but I can't help you there. I think big brother Raki's the only one who would know how to make one, he is the best cook out of all of us. After all, wasn't that the excuse Claire used to get him to travel with her?" The whole group then went to find Raki, Claire making a larger and larger bruise on Priscilla's head the entire time.

"Nope, my uncle had an allergy to eggs, so I never had the chance to make a cake for anyone." Raki said thoughtfully.

Suddenly, a knocking sound came from the front door. "I wonder who that could be?" Claire said as she opened the door, only to freeze with a shocked expression on her face.

"Hello Claire, how have you been?" Said a smiling Teresa as she stood next to the same dark haired teen from the day before. "The writer of this story, the all powerful Michael, gave me a chance to meet my little girl's new boyfriend and to wish him a happy birthday." She said while placing a large white and blue box just inside the doorway. "TERESA! How could you say something like that!?" Claire said, her cheeks a bright red.

Ignoring the embarrassed young woman, Teresa moved into the house in front of Raki. Looking him up and down with an appraising glint in her eye, she suddenly opened her mouth in a big toothy grin. 'So much for having a faint smile' Claire thought to herself. "He's soooo CUUUUUUUTTTTEEEE!" Teresa squealed in delight, hugging the surprised boy to her chest. "AHHH GET HER OFF." Raki screamed in fright.

Turning back towards the door, she said "Well, I must be on my way. Good bye Raki, take good care of my little girl for me." "I will, goodbye." Raki said, waving towards the retreating form of Teresa before she vanished.

"I should be on my way too, take care Raki and have a happy birthday. If you don't, then I'll use my powers as writer to show all of your embarrassing baby pictures to Claire." I said as I left the cabin. "Wait, camera's don't exist in this world, how could I have embarrassing baby pictures?" Raki yelled back at my retreating form. "Did you forget who you're talking to? I could force you to wear a pink tutu for the rest of the entire story if I wanted to." "Oh, right, because you're this magical writer, who has this fancy power over EVERYTHING in this world, right?" Claire said sarcastically. "Hey Raki, here's an early birthday present." I said over my shoulder.

Suddenly the wind started to blow really hard and lifted up Claire's armored skirt right as Raki glanced towards her. "WAAAHHHH I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Claire yelled as she started chasing after me, leaving a dazed Raki still standing in the same place by the door to the cabin.

**Happy Birthday Raki!**

The entire cabin was covered in bright streamers, the living room had a huge banner on it saying "Happy Birthday Raki" and the whole group was sitting in a circle around Raki, along with a big pile of presents that they were waiting for him to open. "Thank you all for doing this for me. Even with Isley showing up, and that crazy guy who keeps calling himself this 'almighty writer' (**A/N Hey, I'm not crazy!**) this'll be my best birthday yet." Raki said to everyone around him. Each of them grinned at that, thinking of how much work they put into this occasion. "Well, everyone's waiting big brother, why don't you start opening your presents?" Said an excited Priscilla as she tried to hold in her enthusiasm. "Alright, first, I'll open Isley's, just to get that one out of the way."

As he reached for the long, silver box, he noticed a silver (of course) card attached to the front of the box. As he opened it, a small smile graced his features. "Dear Raki, though I may be an Abyssal One and awakened being, I still remember what it was like being human. Working hard, training to be stronger, and protecting those you care about. I think, if I ever had a son, I would have like him to be like you Raki. I hope you like this gift and use it well. Thank you for traveling with me in Pieta, and have a wonderful birthday. Isley" Raki finished reading the card out loud and began opening the box. Inside was a large claymore. It had a blue hilt and a note attached. "This was mine back when I was training to be a Claymore. Use it well my friend."

"Mine next, mine next!" Said Priscilla, nearly bursting out of her skin with excitement as she pushed a bright pink box towards Raki. "Alright Priscilla, I'll open it." he said. Inside of the box was a wooden picture frame, on the paper inside was a pencil drawing of the entire group in near lifelike detail. Raki was standing in front of Irene's cabin with Claire next to him. They were both holding hands and had cheerful smiles on their faces. To their right was Angelo, standing tall with his hand on the shoulder of Priscilla in her child form. Next to Angelo was Raven, with one arm around Angelo's shoulders and the other resting on Priscilla's other shoulder. To the left of Claire and Raki, Irene finished off the picture, sitting calmly in a chair with a kind smile on her face as she looked towards Claire. "This is beautiful Priscilla, thank you so much." Raki said as he carefully placed the picture on the table next to him.

"I think I'll open Teresa's next." He said as he reached for the blue and white box. After lifting the lid off of the box, his face was blasted with a rush of cold air. Inside was a clear plastic container and a note saying "Happy Birthday Raki! I hope you enjoy this ice cream cake, nobody should have to go without cake on their birthday. Teresa" Raki then handed out the cake to everyone. "Wow, this is really good." Raki said, "What's ice cream though? Well, whatever it is, it tastes great."

"Time to open mine, I promise you'll enjoy it." Said Raven, a mischievous glint in her eye. Cautiously reaching for the large box she handed him, Raki was wondering what she could have planned on giving him. Opening the lid of the box, he gasped in surprise as he pulled out a full set of body armor. The torso had layers of steel plate set together like the scales of a dragon, while the leg and arm pieces were effectively solid other than similar layering on each joint. Overall, the armor seemed equally built for aesthetics as it was for bodily protection, the entire suit being stained a deep blue and green. "Wow, thank you Raven, I hope this will help with our upcoming fights against the Organization. Thank you so much." Raven had a big grin on her face as she watched Raki admire her gift. "It's made from a similar steel to your claymore swords and Angelo's katanas, it's almost indestructible and is imbibed with an energy that will help you channel your own internal energies during battle, though it'll probably only help you enhance your physical strength when you use it with your current skill level. I hope it serves you well." "Thanks again Raven."

"Time for mine I guess." Said Angelo, handing a smaller box to Raki. The box itself was ornately carved with intricate designs and painted with bright colors, the intricate filigree and design making the box itself seem just as important as the gift it held. Opening the lid of the box, Raki pulled out a necklace just as intricate as the box, a braided gold string attached to a small gold medallion with a small sapphire in the center. "I made that based off of the one I got when I was working for the original Organization. It will help you channel you energy and enhance it as well, amplifying it to nearly double what it is now. Using more energy, enhanced with armor or medallions, should help you get used to the idea of using your energy and will help you become stronger faster. Eventually, you'll be able to use your energy for far more than just increasing your physical strength, but as to how long that will take, well, that's up to you. Use it well."

After the party was over and Raki tried out all of the gifts he had been given, he put everything in the room he was staying in while training. He was sitting on his bed, thinking about how amazing it was to have friends who were willing to go so far for him, just for his birthday. 'I never did celebrate my birthday that much when I was staying with my uncle, I really enjoy doing this though, I'm really glad I met everyone.' He thought to himself as he sat there, gazing at the gifts he had been given. The armor allowed him enough room to wear the medallion underneath it without it being uncomfortable and had a clasp on the back that could be used to hold a sword, as well as being adjustable to hold almost any sized blade, from a tiny pen knife to a broadsword twice the size of the claymores used by Claire and the others. Isley's claymore fit the armor perfectly, the blue hilt perfectly matching the armor with the blade feeling very natural in his hands whenever he held it. He had practiced a little with all of the items and found that while wearing the armor, medallion, an using the claymore, he was able to perfectly slice through a solid granite boulder almost twice as thick at he was tall, a massive achievement for him, and he already felt the effects of becoming used to using more of his energy after he removed the items as his energy drain didn't tire him out as much as it usually did whenever he trained. He was busy contemplating how all of this would be able to help him fight alongside the others, as well as protect Claire, when the very person he was thinking about quietly slipped through his door and sat on the bed next to him. As deep in thought as he was, he didn't notice until he felt the bed shift under the extra weight, and was understandably surprised as he turned to find Claire sitting next to him, her bright silver eyes boring deep into his own.

"Oh, hi Claire. Sorry, I didn't notice you at first." She continued gazing into his eyes, her face betraying no emotion as she spoke next. "It's alright. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable when I brought up your birthday to everyone, I didn't think about how you would have felt about it." she spoke in her usual expressionless tone, her voice even and fluid, one of the many thing about her that drew Raki to her. "That's alright, I really enjoyed it, I hope you and everyone else did too." "I did, thank you." She spoke, though this time her eyes flashed a hint of sadness, so briefly that Raki questioned whether he had imagined it or not, until she spoke again. "I never asked anything about you, never bothered to find out. You were always asking me about myself, what it was like to be a Claymore, and always trying to make sure I was safe, even though I never did anything for you." Raki was stunned to hear this, and even more surprised when a single tear slowly rolled down her face from one of her shining silver eyes. "That's not true at all Claire, you've done so much for me. You saved me from my own town when they threw me out, you allowed me to travel with you, you've protected me, and you even set my brother free. I can never thank you enough for everything you've done for me." He said, his voice filled with determination and sincerity. "Thank you, Raki." Claire said, tears now flowing freely. "You've also helped me far more than I should ever ask, you've helped me to open my heart once again, you returned my humanity, and you've stayed with me no matter what happened. Even when Ophelia was trying to hurt us, when I was fighting Priscilla, every fight we had, you've always been there. Thank you so much." As she spoke, she was slowly moving closer and closer to him, bringing her face closer and closer to his. "Claire, thank you for letting me stay by your side." Raki spoke softly, his eyes slowly closing. "Raki, thank you for being there for me." She responded, closing her eyes as their lips met once again. Unlike when Ophelia was following them, they didn't rush, there was no panic, no hesitation, they poured all of their feeling, their love, and their hearts into that one, single expression of love. As they slowly fell back onto the bed, Raki realized that no number of birthdays or gifts could ever come close to Claire's gift to him that day, and nothing, no amount of yoma or organizations or claymore warriors, would ever be able to separate him from the woman he loved with all of his heart.

**A/N Wow, that was quite a bit longer than I expected, this was my first attempt at any comedic or romancy content so I hope I did well. Raki will still have his birthday presents when I get back to writing my other chapters, though this one is out of place chronologically so I hope I don't confuse anyone. Not to beg for reviews, but they do help me figure out what I need to write and hopefully I'll get over my writers block for my other chapters soon.**


	5. Chapter 5, Assault

Chapter 5, Assault

**A/N,Alright, this is my longest chapter yet. It'll contain a couple of fight scenes, though they'll be in third person, so you'll have to decide which you prefer, 1st or 3rd.**

**Attacks from chapter 3:**

**Conflagration, a quick burst of psionic energy emanating from the arms as they are thrown outwards. Though this attack has the potential to cause a lot of damage, its main purpose is to throw away a large group of enemies without expending a lot of energy, allowing the user to prepare for their enemies next strike. Most useful against large groups of enemies.**

**Psionic wave, the user focuses their energy into their hands and extends this energy out into a wave, creating a tangible shape with the energy that can be used as a weapon. This shape can be anything from a sword to a club. If enough focus and energy it used, the 'energy weapon' can be thrown at a target, then returned instantly back to the users hand.**

**Blade Hurricane, a thin line of energy is emanated from the users body, this line of energy is then made as weak and compact as possible. This thin line of energy has the same amount of force as the thin line of a swords edge and can travel in any direction with mind blowing speed. The only disadvantage to this technique is that no matter how compact the energy is, the line can be blocked by someone competent at defending themselves against psionic attacks.**

**Modified quicksword, similar to the original quicksword, yet focusing all of a users psionic energy into their arm, rather than their yoki. This technique is several times faster than the original, as well as more accurate and powerful, being able to turn an entire tree into sawdust in less than a second.**

Having talked to Raven and Irene, Claire and Raki were beginning to trust her, thought they still found it difficult to believe that the Organization had actually created the yoma, let alone that something several times more powerful than the yoma and claymores combined actually ruled the Organization itself. As Raven described it, the process of creating a yoma is done when the monster in control of the Organization, called an 'Angel Prototype', or an uncontrollable version of Raven and Angelo, implants his own regenerating flesh and will into a human corpse. His will, combined with a substance able to recognize it, gave the new being a large amount of power, compared to a human at least. This meant that every Claymore and Awakened Being was, in a way, actually made from this Angel Prototype.

Even so, all three trained with Raven, the latter teaching Claire the subtleties of using her psionic energy in place of her yoki aura. Having learned that all humans have some kind of access to this energy, though it may remain locked away until awakened, Raki also began training to fight as well, though he could only use his energy to enhance his physical strength for now. All three had made enormous progress, Claire now able to faintly track the movements of Irene's newer version of the quicksword and even being able to counter it if she concentrated, and Raki could now cut down a full grown tree with a single swipe of his sword. Claire had also gone through some kind of therapy with Raven, teaching her to 'make her body her own.'

Every day, Claire and Raven would walk to the same stream. The two of them would then try to catch as many fish as possible using only their energy as a net. Not only that, but they had to float in the center and use their energy to hold them in place, all done while emptying the mind of every thought possible. "Your body is your own to use, certain parts just haven't figured that out yet," Raven had said about the more demonic side of Claymores. "If you can make each of your movements your own, so much so that you don't even have to think about them, that they can be done with an empty mind, then your body will soon follow and be yours. It's the same way with the emotional control required for the quicksword." She said when asked about the so called 'therapy'. "Besides, I like fish." Though Claire had great difficulty with this type of training, she could easily tell that her efforts were dramatically improving her ability to use her energy, and could even begin sensing the psionic energy from Raven and Irene, even when they weren't expending any yoki.

4 days had passed from when Claire and Raki had first met Raven, and the two of them both felt the new power that they had: Claire, near complete control over her body and power, and Raki, the new strength unlocked from his new ability to use his inner energies.

It was on that day, that the four of them began traveling towards the Organization, there they would meet Angelo, along with whatever the Organization and the Angel Prototype tried to put in their way.

The Organization, a group devoted to the eradication of the creatures known as yoma and the salvation of the people of this land.

Jumping forwards, Priscilla dodged a horizontal swipe intended to slice her in half at the waist, though it wouldn't have done much had it hit.

This group, known as the Organization, is actually responsible for creating those same creatures that they claim to hunt. Not only that, but they are being led by a creature far more powerful and malevolent than any yoma, an abomination abandoned even by those who created it.

Turning towards the offending claymore, Priscilla quickly knocks her out. Catching the girls claymore before it can even finish falling, she launches it towards another, dealing a crippling, yet non-life-threatening wound to the other.

Learning of this, two 'people' journeyed to the remote island, intent upon finding the truth behind the creatures and the 'humans' who hunted them. The two had split up, each following a part of their plan that would bring a downfall to the malevolent Organization, along with a salvation to those who had been the victims of the Organization's experiments. Several days later, the two would meet again, though with more than just the two of them now fighting for the land under the tyranny of the Organization.

When he arrived first, there was no doubt in Angelo's mind as to the malevolence of the Organization. The buildings themselves seemed to reek of evil, the scent of death and blood hung in the air, and the complete absence of any people combined with the twisted shape of most of the buildings gave the impression of a city created by the twisted mind of hell itself. Soon after their arrival, several Claymores, at least 80 at first glance, had sprung at the trio, clearly planning an ambush to stop the newcomers. 'I guess they had some backup, in addition to the 37 assigned to each of the regions of the island. This makes things a bit more interesting.' Angelo thought as he jumped back to the edge of the horrid city, watching as Isley did the same, leaving only Priscilla to fight back against the entire 'army' of Claymores. For a brief moment, Angelo questioned his choice to allow Priscilla to fight against the Organization's defenses single handedly, though he put those fears to rest when he saw her move towards the ambushing claymores.

Angelo stood, watching his student as she displayed the power and skill he had been able to teach her in the short amount of time they had traveled together. Though she remained slightly unstable mentally, she had regained almost all of her sanity, along with nearly tripling her powers from her training with Angelo. In addition, she had gained a precision in her movements, a graceful accuracy that would allow her to outclass even those several times stronger than her. Being this much stronger than the Claymores she was fighting against, it was an easy task to fight each of them to submission without landing a fatal blow.

Pleased with his students ability to handle the situation, yet disturbed by how the Organization had simply abandoned these warriors to the intruders, Angelo began walking away. "I'm going to take a look around, I've got a bad feeling about what's going on here." he called over his shoulder to Isley, the Silver King staring in shock at the girl whom he had forced under his control just a short time ago.

"Good god. Such power, such precision, she could kill me without a second thought if she chose to." Isley said as he watched Priscilla dash between a group of 8 Claymores, taking out several more before the first had even finished falling. "Most of these warriors are probably as strong as single digit warriors." he mumbled as he collapsed to his knees, that same emotion that he was becoming all too familiar with, the emotion of fear, finally overpowering him. "I don't-"

"I don't know what to do now?" A harsh voice interrupted him. "I'm finally feeling fear towards someone stronger than me? I'm too much of a coward to do anything about it?!" Isley turned towards the voice, somehow unsurprised that there was yet another who could sneak up on him, and saw a tall man standing behind him. He had a long black cloak and silver hair and eyes, along with long fangs that poked out from between his lips. "What else can I do? I'm not strong enough to face either of them now, Priscilla could kill me with barely any effort and Angelo could probably do so without even touching me. How can I do anything about that?" Isley said desperately.

The man had a thoughtful look on his face as he stepped closer towards Isley. He suddenly vanished, and a voice just by Isley's ear spoke "I could make you stronger, give you the power to face those who would stand in your way, you could be unstoppable." Isley turned toward the voice, seeing the man behind him again, his face just over Isley's shoulder. "And what would you have me do? What price do you have for this power you're giving me so freely." Isley spoke skeptically, simply because he was desperate didn't mean he'd be gullible. "Simple, I just want you to kill two people, the man you've been traveling with, Angelo, and one other named Raven. That is all, and this power is yours." The man spoke in a seductive whisper. After some thought, Isley turned towards the man once more, still in the same position over his shoulder, "Give me your name, and I will do as you ask." A wide grin spread across the mans features, his fangs seemly growing by at least an inch, as he spoke with a voice cold enough to freeze hell itself. "You can call me Vincente." He then bent slightly and plunged his fangs into Isley's neck.

Angelo had just finished checking his third building. 'It's strange, every building is completely empty. Not only is there nobody here, but everything, files, furniture, equipment, personal belongings, everything is gone. I think it's pretty obvious that this, alongside the ambush, means they were expecting us. What could they be planning? How does this all fit together?' he thought as he turned back towards where he came from, not wanting to leave Priscilla or Isley alone in a situation he knew nothing about.

He suddenly felt a massive burst of energy coming from the same place Isley and Priscilla were, and it all clicked into place in his head. 'The ambush, the lack of anything here, it was meant as a distraction. He's here, the Angel Prototype is right here.' He thought as he sprinted back towards Priscilla's location.

Entering the road where the ambush first took place, he saw Priscilla curled up on the ground shaking, surrounded by several bloodied, yet thankfully alive, Claymores. Running to her side, Angelo tried his best to comfort her, yet she seemed to be having a break down as she kept repeating the same thing. "It's him, it's him, it's him, it's him." She kept repeating this as Angelo looked around for Isley, not sensing or seeing him anywhere. 'Damn it, Isley's the only one who could have had that much of an effect on her, he's the only male who's beaten her, that's who this "him" is.' He thought as he remembered when he first tried to communicate with the troubled young girl.

* * *

Isley had finally agreed to take Angelo to the Organization, the Abyssal One knowing that he didn't stand a chance against this man in the condition he was in now. The two had been talking about how they were going to travel there when Angelo mentioned that stealth would be important as they traveled. "That may be difficult, knowing my partner's personality." Isley said to Angelo, as both turned towards the young girl sleeping in Isley's arms. "May I talk to her?" Angelo asked, though both knew it wasn't a request. Isley simply shrugged his shoulders before placing Priscilla carefully on the ground in front of Angelo. Isley then moved back about 50 feet. Though he was more powerful than the little girl, her unpredictability when woken could still make her a dangerous enemy in combat.

Angelo looked down at the young girl in front of him, feeling the energy that clashed in her body, energy that mirrored the conflicting torrent of emotions filling the troubled girl, even as she slept. 'I see, she's so troubled, but I think she wants to be a good person if she can, there's just too much confusing her right now.' He thought as he prepared to wake her. Kneeling by her side, he slowly placed a hand on her shoulder.

As soon as his hand made contact, her eyes burst open and a massive wave of energy blew Angelo back several feet. Priscilla was standing in the same place, a calm yet crazed expression on her face as she licked some blood off of her fingers. Looking down, Angelo noticed a massive chunk of his torso missing just below his heart, the vital organ pulsating through the tattered remains of his clothes. 'She's pretty fast at least.' He thought to himself as he quickly regenerated the missing part of his torso. He prepared for yet another injury as Priscilla rushed at him again, only to fall to her knees, trembling, just two feet from where Angelo was standing. He knew exactly what had happened as he turned towards the cause of Priscilla's most recent breakdown, his eyes narrowing at the source of the yoki wave that caused the girl to falter. As he knelt down the hold the shaking child, he heard her crying the same thing over and over again, "It's him, it's him, it's him, it's him." He knew that Isley had sent that wave of energy towards Priscilla just seconds before, and he knew that Isley had driven at least a part of Priscilla's mind into despair. In that moment, as Isley stared at the girl with cold, uncaring eyes, Angelo knew that the Abyssal One couldn't be trusted.

* * *

"Damn it Isley" Angelo swore under his breath. "Where are you?" He then noticed Priscilla lifting herself up, shakily stepping away from Angelo. "I'm sorry, but I need to face him alone." She said in a surprisingly steady voice. "Are you sure?" He asked, shocked. Priscilla nodded in response, "If I don't face him now, I don't think I'll ever be able to face anything again."

Angelo nodded slowly, uncertain about the condition of the girl he had trained, 'Is she truly ready to face the things that troubled her mind?' he thought.

Suddenly, the ground beneath Priscilla exploded in a massive cloud of dust and dirt, settling to show a massive creature with the body of a centaur along with 4 arms; one arm ended in a sword, one ended with a bow, another with arrows, and one with a spear. The creature was at least 50 feet tall and covered with red flames as it pushed its sword arm against an opponent a mere fraction of its size. Priscilla had shifted into her awakened state, her arms elongating and forming blades with her fingers, blocking the sneak attack by the monstrous creature easily recognized as Isley. 'What happened to him?' Angelo thought, as he watched the two try to over power each other. 'Though Isley was more powerful than her before, Priscilla had become much stronger than him as she trained with me, she should be able to overpower him easily, yet it looks like they are nearly equal. Isley's awakened state was never this massive before either, nor was it covered in flames.' He thought, until he realized what had happened. 'Of course, the Angelo Prototype most have done something to him while both Priscilla and I were distracted, that's what that massive burst of energy was. Well Priscilla, I'll do as you requested and stay out of it for now, but if things begin to look bad for you I'm stepping in. I hope you remember your training.'

Priscilla was using all of her strength against the massive form of Isley, trying to overpower him with strength alone. She then remembered something that Angelo had told her as they were training. "When you face an opponent, never go head to head with your power. If you're lock together in a stand still, not only are you both wasting exactly the same amount of energy trying to push against each other, but even weaker enemies will cause you to lose a lot of strength since you have to put everything you have into overpowering them. If they're just slightly stronger, have a bit more endurance, or have more concentration than you, then you're in big trouble." She turned quickly, letting Isley's sword arm slide right by her, his body falling with the force he was trying to exert on her. "Instead of trying to overpower your opponents with raw strength, try using your own skills against them. You are one of those who has the ability to fly, you're also very quick. Use these while fighting, yet don't telegraph your movements, and don't show them the true extent of what you can do. This'll keep everyone guessing as to what you're going to do next." She then rushed towards his falling body, dodging between arrows and the spear as they were launched at her while amplifying her speed with quick bursts from her wings, aiming her clawed hands towards Isley's unprotected face. Just as she was about to strike, she caught movement out of the corner of her eye and, on instinct, lifted her clawed hand to protect herself, just as Isley's sword arm swooped out of nowhere, pummeling her into the ground, where she rolled to a stop several hundred feet away. "When you do get the upper hand in a fight, take advantage of it, go for any openings you can. But you must still be prepared for your enemies counter, since any openings could be used to trick you into lowering your guard." Standing up, she faces Isley again with fierce determination.

As the two combatants reengaged each other, Angelo was watching from the sidelines, carefully watching his student as she fought, both do gauge how much she learned, and to ensure that things didn't get out of hand. Though he swore to stay out of the fight for now, he was determined not to let anything happen to his student. Sensing a familiar energy, he turned to look behind him.

"ANGELO!" Yelled an excited black haired young woman as she jumped excitedly into his arms. "Hello Raven, I was wondering when you'd show up." He said as he caught her. Giving a small pout, her expression then changed to a big grin as she gave him a fierce kiss. "I missed you", he said, placing his forehead against hers. "I missed you as well." She whispered, "But first, I'd like to introduce the friends I've made since we last saw each other, this is Claire, Raki and Irene." She said, motioning towards the three. "It's nice to meet you all." Angelo said, though none of the three heard them as they were watching the battle between Isley and Priscilla with a mixture of terror, intrigue, and a little hatred from Claire.

"What happened?" Said a shocked Irene, looking towards the fighting behemoths and gazing at all of the unconscious Claymores near where they were standing. "I'd like to know as well. What's she doing here?" Said Claire, motioning towards Priscilla with distaste. "Priscilla is my student, I've been teaching her to become stronger and to help her face the things that she's done. Whether you accept that or not is your own choice." Angelo responded with mild annoyance as he turned back towards the battle. "Is that Isley?!" Cried a shocked Irene. "Yep." Was Angelo's simple reply. "What happened?" Claire asked. "The Angelo Prototype did something to him, it made him a lot stronger than he was before, I'm interested in finding out just how strong he's become." Said Angelo, still gazing out towards his student's battle. "So you saw him, the Prototype?" Asked Raven with a hint of anticipation and excitement. "No, those Claymores were already prepared to ambush us and there was nobody else here either, every thing's gone as well. This all served as a distraction while the Angel Prototype did something to Isley." Angelo said, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Wow, you must have been pretty distracted to fall for that, did you really miss me that much?" Raven said coyly. "More than you could imagine." He said, placing his arms around her.

Priscilla was still having trouble with Isley, he was far stronger than he was before. Everything she tried on him was quickly countered and she was getting nowhere in this fight. She had begun using her newly learned psionic attacks, launching energy spears at him that were either deflected completely or absorbed into his body. Realizing she would have to go all out in this fight, she began charging her most powerful attack yet, one that Angelo had taught her while they were traveling. Focusing her energy, she shifted her stance to a low kneeling position and began forcing the energy out into the surrounding air. 'I just hope I can do it right this time.' She thought as she remembered all of the times she messed up the timing earlier. Just as Isley was about to chop her in half with his sword arm, she unleashed half of her energy, swirling it around her body in a swirling torrent akin to a small concentrated tornado which Isley was quickly lifted towards. Just as Isley reached the peak of his flight in the mini-tornado, Priscilla unleashed a massive beam of energy directly upwards, the powerful beam slicing the unfortunate Abyssal One cleanly in two.

"What was that?!" Claire yelled in shock at the massive power felt from the attack. "That was a perfectly executed Iron Hurricane technique." Angelo said calmly. "I don't know if I could survive against her now." Claire said as she looked around the former headquarters of the Organization. Over half of the buildings were completely leveled, the only ones completely intact being the few surrounding the group itself. "I would appreciate it if you didn't try to fight my student, at least until she tries to atone for what she's done. Besides, I don't think it's over yet." Angelo called back to her, sensing the power still radiating from the mutilated Abyssal One.

Just as Priscilla was about to return to Angelo's side, she felt a massive wave of energy blast from where Isley landed. She slowly turned back towards his body, only to find the two halves slowly sliding towards each other, melding together with a sickening sound until he was once again whole. "No fucking way." She whispered, horrified as her opponent stood once again, completely unharmed. "I can't beat him. I just can't." She cried out, tears beginning to leak from her eyes as she shifted back to her child form and fell to her knees in defeat. Another wave of energy burst forth from Isley as the flame covering his body seemed to burn even more brightly, going from a dull red to a bright yellow as he advanced on the defenseless opponent. Priscilla simply hung her head in defeat as she cringed, trying to prepare for the pain of his next attack. 'Will it hurt to die? Will I feel any pain when he kills me? At least I can finally get away from him in death, though I'll never be able to live freely.' She thought as Isley swung his massive sword towards her.

She sat waiting for several seconds before realizing that she couldn't feel any strike connect, no pain filled her body, she didn't even hear his sword traveling towards her. Slowly opening her eyes, she gasped in shock at what she saw. Isley had swung his sword directly towards her head, intent upon cleaving her in half just as she had done to him just moments before, yet his sword never connected. His blade was hovering just a couple of feet above her head. She continued to stare as Angelo stood just before her, holding the massive blade in place with a single hand almost effortlessly. Turning towards his student he called out, his voice showing barely any strain, "What are you waiting for? GET OUT OF HERE!" She quickly complied, running to the rest of the group as fast as she could. "Raven, get these warriors out of here, I don't want anyone getting hurt."

As Raven, Irene, and Raki began gathering the defeated Claymores, Claire looked towards Priscilla with caution. 'I'll just have to trust her for now. Angelo implied that she wanted to atone for what she's done and I'll give her the benefit of the doubt, for now.' She thought as the two began helping Raven move the unconscious Claymores away from the headquarters.

Turning back to his former traveling companion, Angelo let a wicked smile spread across his features. "It's just you and me now." He said, throwing the enraged Abyssal One back with one hand. "Come to me, INFERNO!" He cried out, a blood red katana materializing with a red and blue aura into his outstretched left hand. Loosely holding the blade by his side, he advanced towards his foe.

"Oh my, he's summoned Inferno. This'll be interesting. I wonder if Isley will be able to keep up." Raven said, watching the two carefully. The group had finished moving out the Claymores and were watching as Angelo prepared to battle Isley. The Abyssal One was now emitting almost three times as much energy that he was when battling Priscilla and seemed intent upon destroying anything in his path. "How can he hope to fight anything like that? Isley's going to kill him!" Priscilla cried, tears flowing again as she watched her former master advance upon her teacher. "I hate to agree with HER, but I don't think he stands a chance. He has no yoki aura, nor is he showing any psionic energy. In fact, it seems like he's the weakest of all of us from what I can sense of his energy. I'm sorry, but he's done for." Claire said, looking towards the two combatants with a look of apprehension. Raven just grinned and looked towards her boyfriend, knowing full well how easily he could handle himself in a fight against an opponent this weak.

Isley was continuing to approach Angelo, the flames around him growing in intensity every second. Just as the two were just 20 feet from each other, Isley charged forwards with all of his speed, unleashing a massive wave of energy as he did so, causing the surrounding buildings to melt with the intensity. A massive shock wave blasted outwards as the two met, both holding the other at a standstill, blades locked together. Isley continued to push with all of his might, forcing the smaller warrior backwards creating a small trench nearly 3 feet deep as his feet dug into the ground. Suddenly Angelo disappeared, the massive creature falling forwards embarrassingly as he lost his balance, only to feel a sharp pain in his lower body as his back two legs fell away from the rest of his massive form. Quickly regenerating, he whirled around to face whoever had done that, only to find an empty road in front of him. "Looking for me?" A voice cried from Isley's left. Turning quickly, he saw a bright flash and cried out in pain as his upper body was cut diagonally in two, a pair of arms left on each piece. Regenerating once again, he began to feel the fatigue that this battle was placing on his body. None of the strikes were life threatening, yet they quickly wore down the Abyssal One. Unleashing one massive wave of energy, Isley incinerated the entire headquarters to the Organization, burning the entire complex to the ground. Falling to his knees, he hoped the attack had vanquished his opponent, only to find a red blade pointed directly at his face. "You're strong, but it's not enough. I wish you had made better choices when you were alive." Angelo stated, pulling back his arm, ready to strike the finishing blow to the fallen Abyssal One.

In that moment, Isley felt no fear, no anger, no pain. Simply the cold, hateful frustration with his own powers. 'Why was this child so strong? Why am I, one of the great Abyssal One's, falling so easily? I won't let it happen. I refuse to be second to him.' "I won't bow to ANYONE!" He cried, unleashing a flurry of raw power, the massive energy breaking apart the ground around him, a massive crater forming beneath him as his energy blasted Angelo away, tearing through his defenses and nearly ripping his body apart.

The group watched as the massive amount of energy began to settle around Isley, forming a bright sphere glowing more brightly than the sun. The sphere the burst apart, revealing a bright figure. A man, about 7 feet tall with large, feathered wings floated where the sphere had been, his body formed entirely from a bright flame. His arms both shifted rapidly between hands, swords, and whips before his body slowly faded. Sensing something behind her, Raven quickly turned, only to find the flaming figure standing there, his sword swinging right towards her neck.

**A/N Whew, once I got over that writers block, I just couldn't stop writing.**

**Attacks for this chapter:**

**Iron Hurricane, the user unleashes a torrent of energy that pulls in any opponents, then causes a blast of energy to radiate upwards to slice the enemy to pieces. It must be timed properly, so that the opponent is directly above the user, which is harder than it would seem with the energy swirling around randomly, as concentrating on the whirlwind would detract from the power of the energy beam.**

**Inferno Blade, a blade formed from energy used to slice through objects from a distance. Since Angelo's blade, Inferno, is imbued with psionic energy, it can launch these blades without drawing any energy from the user, as long as the user can resonate his/her own energy with the blade beforehand to control it properly, which is something only Angelo can do as the sword was built specifically for him.**

**This should give you an idea of how powerful each of the characters are from weakest to strongest:**

**8. Humans: Sid, Gaak  
**

**7. Claymores: Deneve, Helen, Miria (it didn't seem like any other's survived Pieta in the anime, correct me if I'm wrong)**

**6. Modified Humans: Raki**

**5. Awakened and Abyssal Ones: Dauf, Riful**

**4. Modified Claymores: Claire, Irene  
**

**3. Modified Awakened Beings and Abyssal Ones: Priscilla, Isley**

**2. Angel Prototypes: Vincente**

**1. Angels of Death: Raven, Angelo**

**If anyone disagrees then, well that's too bad and I hope you continue to enjoy my story. Don't forget, the characters will grow stronger and become more powerful as time goes by. If I'm forgetting anyone really important in this lineup, please tell me. (Sorry for the long Author's Notes)**

**Thanks for reading!**


	6. A Short Explanation of Energy

**A/N Hey there, thought I'd put up a little explanation of how the energy works for anyone interested, since I'm trying to update my fictionpress story more often than this one (not quite working out like that though, if you were a missing flash drive with a few unpublished chapters in you where would you hide :P ). In case anyone is interested, I'm basing the "new" Isley's strength and abilities off of Despair Embodied from DMC 2 (I don't own any part of the Devil May Cry series in any shape or form, as awesome as it would be), I felt this would be fitting since they're both high-ranking creatures (abyssal one, demon lord) and they both transform their limbs into the weapons they use. I'd also like to thank Rendus for pointing out an error I made in my previous lineup. I had initially placed Raki as being below both Riful and Dauf (awakened ones), but with the training he's been going through, along with his new fancy gear, his skills are enough to where he would be able to beat Dauf if they were both going all out. As Rendus said, with Raki's training in swordsmanship it would be pretty easy for him to find the weak spots in Dauf's armor. The main weakness of Raki, and the only thing I can think of making a difference in a one on one fight, is Raki's inexperience with using his training in real life-or-death fighting, but I doubt this would be an issue considering how well he could handle himself against Ophelia when both Claire and himself were injured. I'd also like to say thank you for the reviews I've gotten, I'm pretty new to this kind of writing so it's all really helpful, thank you.**

Psionic energy is an energy source that the Organization of Shadows discovered that relies on extracting the energy within dark matter. This is similar to a nuclear reaction in that matter is converted into energy directly, however it is done in a more controlled way that any other nuclear reaction, and because of the nature of dark matter, whenever some of it is transformed into energy, it is replaced by more dark matter from elsewhere in the universe. With dark matter and energy making up 98% of the universe, this makes it one of the best sources of energy in existence. Because of the natural evolution of the human brain, it can act like a reactor and antenna, being able to control, manipulate, and transform dark matter and energy at will, though most of human kind is unaware of this ability as it is usually locked genetically, though certain genetic viruses (such as zombie, vampire, psion, and unleashed synthetic viruses) can infect a host and inject their own dna into the hosts brain cells, giving them the ability to manipulate dark matter and energy. The Organization of Shadows named the ability to control dark matter and energy, as well as the new types of energy formed from the conversion of dark matter into energy, psionic energy. Because of the large amount of psionic energy available to the people who use it, the energy must be controlled in a very specific, controlled manner, or else the energy can get out of control and cause significant amounts of damage, even self destruction. Because of this, most psions have a limited number of uses of their psionic ability in the form of memorized techniques, this reduces the chances of losing control of the psionic energy the person has control over, though there are some cases where a psionically inclined individual has enough self control to freely manipulate psionic energy, though they are usually limited by how much they can handle before the energy gets out of hand, their self control being their restraint level, this level also matches the amount of energy used to perform a specified technique, though since the energy can be controlled freely, without restraint, it is usually more effective than the memorized technique of the same level. In the world, there are (currently) only two characters who have the ability to use a limitless amount of psionic energy without the need to worry about self control, to the point in which their only concern is mental fatigue, these are the Blood God: Thanatos (an upcoming character, half antagonist half protagonist), and the Phoenix of Inferno (not in my fanfic sadly). The engineers of the Organization have also found a way to use machines to control psionic energy, though it is nowhere near as efficient or powerful as when used by living psions. Yoki auras are created by certain species of psions whose energy is "embedded" into their whole body. Because the brain has less conscious control of the energy, a significant portion is lost as radiation, like how filament lightbulbs get hot but more efficient flourescent bulbs stay cooler, yet brighter, without wasting as much energy. The aura, therefore, can be seen as a "leak" and could explain why those who don't suffer from that drain and have very little aura, like Priscilla when she was fighting Teresa, are often stronger.


End file.
